This invention relates to air mixing and ventilating devices and more especially thermal and environmental conditioning apparatus adapted to provide a comfortable spot environment for workers in relatively large substantially unenclosed industrial plants normally subjected to temperatures in the work areas that are usually higher than those on the exterior and which cannot be satisfactorily warmed or cooled in a practical and economical manner.
Heretofore, numerous types of devices have been provided for warming and cooling the entire space of a closed area or room by randomly mixing or homogenizing the upper level ceiling zone air with the lower level floor zone air and then discharging the resultant air mixture into the room. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,275,295, 3,172,463, 3,973,479 and 4,152,973 to Greenway, Bowman, Whiteley and Peterson, respectively, are typical examples of such prior art devices which require considerably more time to provide a comfortable environment than would be required to spot condition the area. Where a large substantially unenclosed space is used by industrial workers, the time and expense required to comfortably condition the entire space is usually prohibitive. So far as applicant is aware, prior art devices do not provide spot wind chill envelopes or work areas during cooling stages by injecting a controlled mass of supplementary refrigerated air into a relatively large mass of recycling cool floor air to form a cold/cool air mixture and then propelling the mixture at prescribed velocities upon a recipient in a work area; nor is applicant aware of a prior art device for providing a spot warming effect during warming stages by injecting a controlled amount of supplementary heated air into a relatively large mass of recycling warm ceiling air and then propelling the resultant air mixture upon the recipient. Furthermore, such prior art is not believed to provide means for varying the ratio between the upper and lower recycling air masses in the resulting mixture whereby predominantly warm upper level air will be utilized during a warming mode and predominantly cool lower level air during the cooling mode.
In the heating and air conditioning field, several principles of thermodynamics and basic physical laws have been the catalyst for inventions devised to provide ventilation, cooling, heating, destratification, humidifying and air cleaning. These functions have been combined in several devices to provide two or more additional functions either simultaneously or singularly. In practice, such devices have one thing in common, namely, they are designed to work more efficiently in an enclosed area, with the possible exception of a conventional fan often used for spot ventilation and/or cooling. Furthermore, these devices have proven to be less efficient and less desirable comfortwise, especially when the area in which they are normally used is open to a hostile surrounding temperature. This drawback is due to the fact that the devices accomplish their thermodynamic functions through a process of time in an enclosed area and, as such, are less applicable for use in a spot area that is constantly exposed to a hostile surrounding temperature environment that cannot be economically enclosed or sealed.
It is with the above-mentioned limitations of conventional environmental conditioning apparatus in mind that a more complete understanding of the principles of thermodynamics is thus proposed as the basis for my improved spot thermal conditioning device. The present invention is designed, constructed and arranged in accordance with some basic physical laws embodied in a dual thermal air circulation loop disposed between the ceiling and floor of a building structure, operates selectively as a multifunctional apparatus that is efficient, simple in construction, and relatively inexpensive to manufacture, and offers a level of thermal conditioning heretofore not available in any single device to the best of applicant's knowledge and belief.
The dual thermal loop is composed of a vertically disposed upper ceiling zone circuit around which warm ceiling air flows, and a second vertically disposed floor zone circuit around which relatively cool floor air flows, the lower arcuate portion of the upper circuit intersecting the upper arcuate portion of the lower circuit at an acute angle to form a conditioned air mixture which is then propelled to a spot work area in the floor zone.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a spot thermal and environmental conditioning apparatus that is constructed and arranged to function as set forth in the abstract of the disclosure and discussed in the related comments above.
It is a further object of invention to provide a spot air conditioning apparatus of the class described wherein a focused mass or stream of ceiling zone air of one thermal temperature level is injected into a mass or stream of floor zone air of a substantially different temperature level without producing appreciable diffusion and thermal wind shear at the point of intersection whereby the mass of injected air is caused to remain tightly focused within the floor air throughout the travel of the mixture to the work area.
It is yet another object of invention to provide a spot thermal air conditioning apparatus as set forth in the immediately preceding paragraph, in combination with means selectively operable to dehumidify, to humidify, to filter visible particles or to filter polluted invisible particles from the ceiling zone air immediately preceding its focused injection into and its mixture with the floor zone air.